- No double floor for 2013, new design closer to RB idea.- No Pull Rod for the front suspension. They will not follow McLaren, Lotus and Mercedes on their change from Push Rod.- Special care with the radiators. They no longer have to be on a high position to allow the double floor so Luca Furbatto (chief designer) has been working on sidepods shapes to maximize the Coanda effect on the exhaust.- Last season with Ferrari, Renault will provide the engines from 2014.

will be interesting to see if James Key can shine at yet another midfield team. sadly, I don't think he was poached fast enough to have a serious impact on the baseline of the 2013 car, only in the upgrades.

will be interesting to see if James Key can shine at yet another midfield team. sadly, I don't think he was poached fast enough to have a serious impact on the baseline of the 2013 car, only in the upgrades.

You have to wonder what the precise FOTA/FIA rules are on the amount of RBR/RBT data Toro Rosso can have.I suppose even with this data, it still has to be put into practice, a tough job. Evidently they had confidence in their double floor previously.

It is a shame that the team has to use a different engine than Red Bull.

Do they use a RBR (RBT) wind tunnel... at least the engineers operating it will have the top ideas in their memory if so. I guess they rent one in Italy or use a TMG one or something actually though? James Key will have some Newey-inspired data, but be doing his own thing I guess?

The binning of the Double Floor will certainly help to package the radiators upflow in a way to ease the design of an effective Coanda or Downwash exhaust package. From the article it seems they are going for the RB8- style Coanda. I wonder if we will see similar ducts under the exhaust bulge. A pull-rod front suspension does help to bring more weight lower but the geometry should require quite a lot of ressources to get it right. The 2014 rules are still unclear but a lower nose would certainly make the pull-rod scheme considerably more attractive, I guess. Keep in mind that Minardi did run a pull-rod front suspensions with a low low nose roughly a decade ago.

Of course it is all talk and rumours so far. Still the teams who will switch over to pull-rods had this project in the pipeline for many many months.

Do they use a RBR (RBT) wind tunnel... at least the engineers operating it will have the top ideas in their memory if so. I guess they rent one in Italy or use a TMG one or something actually though? James Key will have some Newey-inspired data, but be doing his own thing I guess?

Don't worry ;) STR has exclusive wind tunnel and CFD in Bicester. This is old Jaguar windtunnel which was built for Reynard. They don't work in Bedford.

So that article seems to suggest Maren, Mercededes, and Lotus have all switched to a pull rod front suspension then...does this article have a similar piece of these teams too? I wonder where they get their info from! Good article thankyou

I'm getting tired of all those teams wanting Renault engines. Won't be long and we'll have only two suppliers left. Where are the times when Ferrari, Mercedes, Renault, Toyota, (Ford) Cosworth, Honda and BMW were al supplying engines. I really miss those days.

So that article seems to suggest Maren, Mercededes, and Lotus have all switched to a pull rod front suspension then...does this article have a similar piece of these teams too? I wonder where they get their info from! Good article thankyou

No but when La Gazzeta and other Italian media speculated about next season's Ferrari they also said those teams will use a Pull Rod front suspension. I don't know how trustworthy their sources are.

I'm getting tired of all those teams wanting Renault engines. Won't be long and we'll have only two suppliers left. Where are the times when Ferrari, Mercedes, Renault, Toyota, (Ford) Cosworth, Honda and BMW were al supplying engines. I really miss those days.

Whether it is just marketing or not Ferrari, Renault and Mercedes are there as the famous and prestigious long-time Grand Prix racing marques, and the others are nothing more than quitters really aren't they...

It reflects badly on Toyota (though Motorsport is mostly irrelevant for Toyota brand image) but even worse for the sporty brand BMW! ...Being beat up by Mercedes and quitting, not a good look at all!

The move from Ferrari to Renault has arguably to do, among other factors with the conflicts between RBR and Ferrari. It is rather obvious that even with a different chassis it could help both teams if they run the same drivetrain, KERS and so forth. There are already some deals in place between big and smaller teams like McLaren&Force India, RBR&Caterham and so forth. The smaller team can shift more ressources where they can get more performance bang for the buck and the bigger teams can spread their R&D investment over more units.

For a engine supplier a greater amount of teams could actually be quite an advantage in 2014. It should help to get a lot of in-car testing done quite early compared to suppliers like Ferrari. If you are the principal 'worksteam' I can see far greater benefits by having a couple of additional teams running your engines.

so what do you guys (and girls) think the reason is of the switch from ferrari to renault? I can't decide between these:

-ferrari don't want to reveal their new engine and their updates to the red bull 'family', so they didn't want to renew with toro rosso
-red bull is afraid ferrari won't give their latest spec engines and update packages to toro rosso, and they wanted to move away from ferrari
-renault says more on track data -> better development, 5 teams is more than 4
-renault says dividing the costs between 5 teams is cheaper than 4 -> though I assume red bull gets the engines free, and they're not concerned, this way toro gets a way cheaper engine than ferrari and has more budget for aero
-red bull needs a guinea pig not just for drivers, but for engines and ERS too
-they believe renault will be the best engine, and switch for better performance
-red bull wants toro rosso to be able to incorporate red bull design, tricks etc and it is easier with the same engine
-none of these?

so what do you guys (and girls) think the reason is of the switch from ferrari to renault? I can't decide between these:

-ferrari don't want to reveal their new engine and their updates to the red bull 'family', so they didn't want to renew with toro rosso-red bull is afraid ferrari won't give their latest spec engines and update packages to toro rosso, and they wanted to move away from ferrari-renault says more on track data -> better development, 5 teams is more than 4-renault says dividing the costs between 5 teams is cheaper than 4 -> though I assume red bull gets the engines free, and they're not concerned, this way toro gets a way cheaper engine than ferrari and has more budget for aero-red bull needs a guinea pig not just for drivers, but for engines and ERS too-they believe renault will be the best engine, and switch for better performance-red bull wants toro rosso to be able to incorporate red bull design, tricks etc and it is easier with the same engine-none of these?

Almost all of them have merit but sharing components, especially the drivetrain and integrated systems should have the biggest impact. Keep in mind that RBR does already do so with Caterham. In this case RBR can spread the R&D, getting another revenue stream and considerable relevant feedback. The same goes for Renault. STR on the other hand an focus on the chassis which made the difference in the last years. The systems in question don't bring relative performance but can cost you a lot of points.

Keep in mind that in theory STR could pay Renault for the RBR engines, making it easier for RBR to reduce costs. The same overall owner would pay the bill but from an accounting point of view it would be a completely different affair.

P.S: Personally I do think that Ferrari would do well to get another costumer. Force India doesn't seem to be a likely candidate as they already are linked with McLaren and Mercedes and get a strong mechanical package. Maybe a smaller team like Marussia might be a good idea. Sauber has proven to be a good partner and I can not imagine a switch there.

Force India were shaping up as a Mercedes B team but now they've lost Hulkenberg to a Ferrari customer and di Resta is maybe losing some stock value. Meanwhile Jules Bianchi is favourite for a seat which is driving Ferrari rumours to which I based my previous comment on.

Looking to 2014 you have to assume we're down to just 3 engines and so with HRT gone, who picks up Marussia? They too have some form of deal currently with McLaren and so surely they will take a Mercedes engine. So if Force India drop their engines to Marussia and Toro Rosso drop their engines to Force India, Renault are the only ones picking up an extra team and are already supplying the most teams. They're the most vocal too about having the ability to expand and even the desire to do so.